This actually might work.
To begin with, you need some capital. A few tens of thousands of pounds ought to do it.

Use that money to buy a field. Make sure that it's not too far away from a town - something commutable.

Get planning permission to build, say, eight houses on it.

DO NOT BULD THE HOUSES. That's someone else's job. Your job, now, is to sell the field. It now has planning permission. This has increased its value many times. (Well - OK - perhaps not at this exact stage in the economic cycle - but you get the picture.)

All you have to do now is to reinvest your capital in two more fields. And buy a Jag.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Wed 6 Aug 2008, 10:12, 4 replies)

I
Used to work for a company that done this, they used to buy greenbelt land that had practically no chance of getting planning..paid about 25k for the land and divided it up into about 20-25 plots and sold each one for roughly 15-20k a pop, calling themselves an "investment company" cue FSA stepping in....
(Gorbotronic 01100111 01101111 01110010 01100010 01101111 00001, Wed 6 Aug 2008, 10:36, closed)

Umm...
"Get planning permission to build, say, eight houses on it."

This isn't necessarily very easy -- more often than not the reason a piece of land hasn't already been built on (especially in desirable areas) is that it is specifically zoned to prevent that. Persuading local authorities to change the zoning of land is hard.

The trick is finding a piece of land that you know can be re-purposed, but the owner doesn't -- otherwise they'd just do it themselves. And to be honest, just showing an interest in the land is likely to tip them off, or at least lead them to explore the possibility.

More likely to be successful is identifying areas where there are existing, large houses (or houses with lots of land) that could be demolished to make way for more houses in the same space. You're more likely to get planning permission because the land is already designated for housing.
( reallywittyname veraciously conspues lexiphanicism on, Wed 6 Aug 2008, 10:41, closed)

A good idea in theory
If it's grade one agricultural land there is very little chance of either being able to purchase it at a reasonable cost or getting planning permission unless you have 'friends' in the right places.

Much better to buy up old redundant farm buildings in a farmyard - barns, stables, that sort of thing.

Renovate and redevelop them into executive rustic houses.

Sell them at hugely inflated prices as everyone wants to live in a bucolic idyll.

Purchase helicopter and Jag.
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Wed 6 Aug 2008, 10:43, closed)